Jumping Ship Thread

[Mr. Nerfect]

AEW should have gone after the names they’re getting right from the start. They’re finally ending up where they should have been two years ago. Some may say “better late than never,” but I’m not really so sure.

WWE is its own worst enemy. AEW itself is no threat. But because of that, WWE have refused to change their practices to even sell their existence. This is chasing off talent, but the problem is the other circus is going to piss away any momentum they can bring in with them.

In theory, with Punk, Danielson and Cole on the show, there would be less room for Matt Hardy, Joey Janela and Orange Cassidy. But the problem is, AEW thinks that is all good shit. Their quality compass is way off, so you’re going to get the inevitable shitting of the bed that caps their audience.

So we’re left with a scenario where a lot of potentially valuable talent leave the auspices of Vince, but can’t make an impact, so WWE never changes and AEW hovers around 1 million viewers for eternity.

AEW, as a concept, had the potential to destroy WWE and really change wrestling. They’ve given dissatisfied talent another place to work, but the net damage to wrestling is going to be greater as both major companies slowly wring out interest.

[Noid]

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect AEW should have gone after the names they’re getting right from the start. They’re finally ending up where they should have been two years ago. Some may say “better late than never,” but I’m not really so sure. WWE is its own worst enemy. AEW itself is no threat. But because of that, WWE have refused to change their practices to even sell their existence. This is chasing off talent, but the problem is the other circus is going to piss away any momentum they can bring in with them. In theory, with Punk, Danielson and Cole on the show, there would be less room for Matt Hardy, Joey Janela and Orange Cassidy. But the problem is, AEW thinks that is all good shit. Their quality compass is way off, so you’re going to get the inevitable shitting of the bed that caps their audience. So we’re left with a scenario where a lot of potentially valuable talent leave the auspices of Vince, but can’t make an impact, so WWE never changes and AEW hovers around 1 million viewers for eternity. AEW, as a concept, had the potential to destroy WWE and really change wrestling. They’ve given dissatisfied talent another place to work, but the net damage to wrestling is going to be greater as both major companies slowly wring out interest.

It sucks that AEW didn't pan out exactly how I wanted. As the late great Nikki Bella once said, "I wish AEW died in the womb."

[Tom Guycott]

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect AEW should have gone after the names they’re getting right from the start. They’re finally ending up where they should have been two years ago. Some may say “better late than never,” but I’m not really so sure.

If you recall, though, that just so happened to be when WWE didn't do their annual post Wrestlemania housecleaning and started extending people's contracts/giving them raises and other shit to stop their grumbling (remember how there were rumors of Sasha Banks and Bayley potentially going away, then suddenly they are suddenly and inexplicably re-paired and become the first ever female tag champs?). Part of the plan had to be to take disgruntled talent fresh from Stamford. Even though they hired their buddies, some of those folks were obviously stop-gaps for the mass exodus that never came.

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect WWE is its own worst enemy. AEW itself is no threat. But because of that, WWE have refused to change their practices to even sell their existence. This is chasing off talent, but the problem is the other circus is going to piss away any momentum they can bring in with them. In theory, with Punk, Danielson and Cole on the show, there would be less room for Matt Hardy, Joey Janela and Orange Cassidy. But the problem is, AEW thinks that is all good shit. Their quality compass is way off, so you’re going to get the inevitable shitting of the bed that caps their audience. So we’re left with a scenario where a lot of potentially valuable talent leave the auspices of Vince, but can’t make an impact, so WWE never changes and AEW hovers around 1 million viewers for eternity.

Though true that AEW itself is no threat, they've kinda backed into a decent concept with their open border policy of fully sanctioning their guys to appear elsewhere, and vice versa. Initially, the whole thing with Moxley (pre-pandemic, of course) hinged upon him flying back and forth between the US and Japan and pretending those two universes don't exist to the other place. While a unique plan, it's actually even better when he was recognized as the NJPW US champion, or having everyone's favorite murder grandpa show up in AEW. While true it does nothing (and in a way is actually detrimental) for AEW, it actually does good for North American wrestling as a whole.

That, coupled with WWE running full steam with the idea that "talent" is an interchangeable commodity like indistinguishable cogs in a machine, has shifted the power dynamic immensely.

It's not that AEW is outright "winning", but they are attracting attention, being exciting and more fun to watch than WWE, and at the exact same time, WWE is doubling down on what is fucking them up to begin with.

It is basically like an incompotent, ragtag militia that accidentially won a short skirmish or two, versus a war machine nation that could EASILY crush them in an actual war, but decided to up and withdraw their troops and scale down their army size and defensive capabilities for seemingly zero reason... and let some commanders just defect to potentially make the opposition a better army.

Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect AEW, as a concept, had the potential to destroy WWE and really change wrestling. They’ve given dissatisfied talent another place to work, but the net damage to wrestling is going to be greater as both major companies slowly wring out interest.

I think "destroy WWE" is a bridge too far. It had the potential to change them for the better, for sure.

This is where I go back to what I said elsewhere about feeling sorry for HHH in a way. I think the idea was that he was going to be basically running WWE now, since Vinice would have more time devoted to XFL 2.0. When he got his eyes back on the product, there would be main roster talent like UE, and Martinez (don't know why I'm blanking on his "generated name" right now) and Keith Lee and featuring a lot of the talent that ended up being mad at him for being "lied to", because HE planned on pushing them in Vince's absense. And then, if Vince got mad, he'd see matches or merch sales and ratings and, possibly begrudingly, be fine with it. One of those "forgiveness over permission" things. Then Vince abruptly shuttered his football plan and fucked up the progression of development.

I do agree that they have the potential to "wring out interest" as you put it; AEW from trying to do too much at once, and WWE by trying harder and harder be a wrestling promotion that isn't wrestling at all. And not in the Max Landis way.